Introducing Athena

 

Welcome Athena.  For those of you who can't immediately recognize it - Athena is about one year old, domestic shorthair kitty who is absolutely adorable.  Welfycat is head over heels in love with her.

New House for Sean

We've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks.  Sean and Andrew finally signed on their first house.  There were some last minute issues with the financing but it resolved itself and they officially spent their first night in their new home on Tuesday, January 12.  They still don't have a stove, microwave, or refrigerator.  Lots of take out pizza and Subway sandwiches.  Mike and I have been helping them move things as well as installing blinds, sewing curtains, and installing everything from curtain rods to smoke detectors.  We're even helping build a wine rack and tray storage for their kitchen.  It's a nice little house and I hope they'll be happy there.  A big party is being planned for sometime late in January - if we all survive the move-in.  Here are the photos, though I realize I don't have a photo of the outside yet.

Looking out of the living room

Main floor bathroom

 Kitchen (what there is of it)

Living room and dining area

There are two bedrooms and a bath on the main floor and another two bedrooms and bath downstairs along with a nice sized family room and an open area for the washer and dryer.  The person they bought from "flipped" the house so he cut a few corners.  But all in all it's nice and they're over the moon.  I hope that feeling lasts through the first round of payments!

Congratulations, Sean and Andrew.

Ta Da!!!!!

Holiday Stuff

I could have titled this post "Strange things on people's heads."



Or maybe "Where did all the other people go?"


Nope, I think I'll call it "We finally got everyone in a photo and no one is scowling."

Happy Holidays, Everyone!
From the Welfys

Winter Outing Worth the Drive

Ever since Anna has been in Logan we've talked about going out to Hardware Ranch to see the elk. Mike and I have never been out there. So last weekend we went up to see Anna and Tay and talked them into going out there with us. It's a half hour drive from their house up the canyon through Hyrum to the place they feed the elk. The drive was lovely, snow on the sides of the road, but none on the road itself. The air was cold but not windy. We found the visitors' center and bought tickets to go on the sleigh ride out to the pasture where they feed. You can see plenty from the side of the road if you didn't want to take the ride, though.

That day there were about 300 elk on the meadow - mostly cows and older calves with two or three bulls. The wagons were wearing their "dry" tires rather than their sleigh treads so it was a little bumpy. The ride is about 20 minutes long and the driver and guide both know lots about the elk, the ranch, and the horses that pull the sleigh. If you haven't gone out there it's a great little getaway. I bet all my friends and family with little kids would love it. I was surprised it only cost us $5 per adult and children are less or free if they're very young. They have a small dining area in the visitors' center where you can eat a picnic lunch (we stopped at Burger King before coming up the canyon) and real bathrooms - the kind with heat and air dryers. It was all in all a great experience.

Calliope!!!

Calliope arrived by plane on Tuesday. She remembered Sean and Mike a little bit and she seemed to remember the house. She walked right up to where the water bowl has always been to get a drink. Then I got home and she REALLY remembered me. I attribute that to the fact that I was "mom" and you always remember mom. I can't wait to see what she thinks of Anna. She's a well mannered, but playful, adult dog now and we're so pleased to have her. Yes, that's a string hanging out of her mouth from her tug toy. Sean and Andy will be taking her to live at their house eventually, but for now it's fun to have another big dog in the house. Besides, she's keeping my feet warm.

I AM A WINNER!!!!!!!

Final word count for this year's Nanowrimo: 52,617 words. Thirty days, one novel. I am amazed by how quickly those pesky novel characters took over the writing and told their own story. This is the first year I have been a winner. Two years ago I wrote until I got bogged down with the boring details of a regular life. This time I had a chance to work on the final twenty thousand words this weekend. Amazing that the story I was telling took almost exactly 50,000 words to tell. I can't decide if that's because I fudged it up or down, or if it's just how long the story was supposed to take.

Yes, yes. I'll be resting on my laurels for a while. Then I have to start editing as I am seriously considering trying to get this one published. It turned out pretty good, I think. I'm going to have Kimmi read it for a second opinion about that. It's hard to judge your own work.

Well cheers to all of you out there who didn't spend the last 30 days writing a novel. It feels really good to be finished. Sort of like not having a bus parked on your foot anymore. ;)